Last month the Nation newspaper very quietly announced the appointment of Kaymar Jordan to the post of Editor in Chief from September 1, 2010. Jordan leaves the job as Director of News and Current Affairs at the Caribbean Media Corporation (CMC).
Following the announcement the obvious question which observers would have asked – what is the implication for Roxanne Gibbs the current Executive Editor? It is an open secret BU believe her performance as the head of the Nation’s editorial staff to be woefully short of what is required from the leading daily newspaper in Barbados. How can we forget her handling of the Guyana immigration issue which revealed a clear biase? There is also the decision to report the Hartley Henry and Carol Martindale spat to an international body which has had the effect of embarrassing the Barbados government over a non issue. To date the matter remains an embarrassing loose end which obviously was politically motivated. Several other instances can be used to cite her incompetence in recent years.
It comes as no surprise if we are to accept our usual unimpeachable sources that Roxanne has been let go from the Nation newspaper on Tuesday of this week. Some will say she resigned but the end result is the same, she has to go. We wish her all the best but there is little doubt she has been drowning in her own incompetence and has finally been put out of her misery.
The Nation newspaper is a part* of the local Fourth Estate but very influential. Jordan will assume a position once held by Harold Hoyte. BU have not found a good reason yet to forgive Hoyte for selling out a highly successful local newspaper to a Trinidadian concern. She will be expected to bring leadership to a newspaper which has lost its way. Some may say it is that lack of leadership of the Nation newspaper in the last five to ten years which has seen the emergence of citizen journalists and others. Before Jordan can make her mark she will have to recruit/build a competent team of professionals* to support her quest for excellence in local journalism. There are some journalists currently on the Nation payroll whose exploits* over the years can be deemed to have been highly unprofessional. We may have more to say about that at a later date. BU have to congratulate the powers at be at the Nation newspaper for demonstrating the courage to recruit out of the box with the Jordan appointment.
The BU household has followed Kaymar Jordan’s career with interest. Her appointment is welcomed and we suspect she will bring a breath of fresh air i- f allowed – to the job. She assumes the job at a time when the Bajan blogosphere, Facebook and Twitter are growing every day and her decisions will be under fierce scrutiny by a demanding public. This is the nature of the beast in the world we currently live in, the smart person we suspect she is should recognize that we all have our roles to play.
It is only fair we give her a chance to settle in her new role before we place her performance under the microscope.
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